China and Serbia signed a free trade agreement on Oct. 17, China's Ministry of Commerce announced, according to an unofficial translation. The deal marks the first of its kind between China and a Central and Eastern European country, the ministry said, touting the agreement's importance for its Belt and Road Initiative. The deal will allow both countries to achieve a "high level of mutual openness" and establish a more "preferential, convenient, transparent and stable business environment," the ministry said.
The U.K. Solicitors Regulation Authority released its annual Anti-Money Laundering report for 2022-23, covering the agency's role in addressing money laundering and terrorism financing, the role of private parties, enforcement activity, how to report suspicious activity, sanctions, case studies and risk assessments.
The U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office released a statement after a Court of Appeal decision relating to how the U.K. government may sanction a Russian entity based on what parties can exert control over it. The agency said it is "carefully considering" the decision's impact, specifically the decision that PJSC National Bank is controlled by sanctioned parties due to their political office (see 2301310028).
The European Parliament on Oct. 17 adopted new fisheries control rules requiring all EU fishing vessels to be monitored and their catches to be electronically reported. The measures are meant to establish "full traceability" under the EU's new fisheries control system and were adopted on a 438-146 vote, with 40 abstentions.
The European Parliament's Internal Market and International Trade committees adopted a draft regulation that would provide a framework for investigating the use of forced labor in global supply chains and bans all goods using forced labor, the parliament announced. If the investigation of a company reveals the use of forced labor, the European Parliament said, "all import and export of the related goods would be halted at the EU's borders and companies would also have to withdraw goods that have already reached the EU market." Goods that had reached the market would be "donated, recycled or destroyed."
A U.K. appeals court last week granted an injunction blocking a Gazprom subsidiary from suing its lenders in a Russian court over an abandoned gas project. The England and Wales Court of Appeal said it was the proper place to bring RusChemAlliance's claim against Germany-based Deutsche Bank, adding that there was no good reason not to impose the injunction.
Joshua Drew, former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, has joined Miller & Chevalier as a member. Drew's practice will center on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act proceedings, corporate compliance and internal and external investigations, the firm said. He served as assistant U.S. attorney 2003-2009, and before that as a DOJ trial attorney in the agency's fraud section. More recently, Drew helped lead international communications company Veon through an FCPA monitorship.
Lydia Childre, former international trade and logistics senior associate at Venable, has joined boutique trade law firm Lighthill, the firm announced on LinkedIn. Childre worked at Venable for nearly two years after serving as a senior project adviser on Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs at the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration. Her practice at Lighthill will center on "national security and trade policy," the firm said. Lighthill was founded earlier this year by former Crowell & Moring attorney John Anwesen (see 2307050026).
North Carolina-based specialty chemicals manufacturing company Albemarle Corp. agreed to pay over $218 million to settle DOJ and SEC investigations on alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, DOJ announced. The violations resulted from Albemarle's payment of bribes to government officials in Vietnam, Indonesia and India.
World Trade Organization members, meeting Sept. 27-28, swapped views on how to ramp up transparency on other members' agricultural measures. Members of the Committee on Agriculture suggested "streamlining and simplifying the current export subsidy notification requirements" and mulled over a proposal from the committee chair to specifically address transparency, WTO said.